Annotation

Anne Sexton ' Us'

At least on one level, this poem represents sexuality as the most authentic representation of a relationship, one which divests the participants of the problems and complications that—it is hinted—inform the everyday aspect of their interaction. We know Anne Sexton had a stormy and unfulfilled marriage, which ended in divorce (her husband loved her, but her own relationship with him was hard-drinking, often disparaging, and ambivalent. She had many love affairs). Therefore it is reasonable to imagine—from the ‘January postcards' and the stark transition from the cold outside to the bedroom interior--that the couple meeting in this poem are not husband or wife, but lovers who find each other in a hotel room. From within the poem there are not enough interpretive clues to define the relationship. Suffice it to say that the stark contrast of the ‘black' and ‘white' of her furs represent the constraints and complications of their love affair, as do the ‘buttons,' ‘reins,' ‘bridle,' and ‘January postcards', of which they strip themselves, with only their nakedness remaining, bathed in a golden light. The external winter becomes in this room a fruitful autumn season; white becomes gold, cold becomes warmth. The sensual imagery, including the dual representation of the woman as slave and princess, simultaneously humble and exalted-- underscore the intensity of the sexual encounter. The multiple meanings of the phrase “you undid me” suggest that there are several layers to this experience: the removal of the clothes combines with the sense of becoming undone, that is, with a loss of self-possession that may have both positive and negative connotations. That the poem celebrates the couple's sexual union does not change the fact that the experience is ephemeral, that the room will bury them, will outlive them, that time has the upper hand in this relationship. All the greater is the physical sense of the moment.